Malaga defender Martin Demichelis has said he believes his former club Bayern Munich can win the Champions League.

Demichelis, 31, thinks either the Bavarians - beaten on penalties by Chelsea in last season's final - or Barcelona will lift the trophy this time around.

The centre-back left Bayern to move to Spain after a row with then coach Luis van Gaal last January, having made 174 Bundesliga appearances in seven years.

He told Bild: "A lot of people thought I was going there to see out my career and go on a well-paid holiday. I knew this was not the case. We were fighting relegation first of all, but last year we were fourth."

Malaga qualified for the Champions League by beating Panathinaikos and now top their group with six points. "Playing Champions League with FC Bayern was compulsory - playing Champions League with Malaga is a dream," Demichelis said.

"We beat Zenit 3-0 in our first match. They had just bought Hulk and Witsel for €100 million. Now we have beaten Anderlecht 3-0."

Despite his team's good start, Demichelis is not looking beyond Bayern or Barcelona as winners, saying: "For me, Bayern, alongside Barcelona, are the favourites again" and adding that his former team should not be concerned by the shock defeat to BATE Borisov.

He added: "Bayern should not worry about the loss against Borisov. Things like that happen in football. Bayern will easily make it out of the group, and their Bundesliga start was sensational. Alongside Barcelona, they play the best football in Europe."

"They are better than Real, most certainly when it comes to cohesion and attractiveness - Bayern's match philosophy is better."

Demichelis said it would be a dream to face Bayern in UCL, explaining: "I play alongside my pal Roque Santa Cruz at Malaga. We have talked about how terrific it would be to play in Munich against Bayern."